PA2 is revisited as a Queen Elizabeth-derived CATOBAR design associated with electromagnetic launch. The counterfactual is that French progress on that design could have made British conversion decisions easier because the engineering would already have been worked through. France withdrew early, and subsequent changes to the British ships proceeded without retaining and funding that option. Conversion then required substantial internal rearrangement at high cost. Electromagnetic catapults are described as easier to power from gas-turbine systems than steam catapults, which need a steam supply. A suggested return to hydraulic catapults is mentioned with doubt about whether it could perform adequately.
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PA2 and the cost of converting a carrier to CATOBAR
The cancelled PA2 concept explains why abandoning a shared CATOBAR design made later British conversion proposals costly, despite the relative convenience of electromagnetic catapults.